What makes a landing page work?

An effective landing page is the online equivalent of a zero-sleaze sales rep. It’s laser-focused and gives you just the right amount of relevant information so you happily do what the page asks you to.

This landing page from Wix tells you exactly what you need to know — that Wix can help you make free landing pages. When you scroll down, the page offers a few more benefits and a selection of templates to help you get started.

Everything about this landing page works together towards the end goal — to get you to sign up for Wix.

Simple, right?

If sharing the right info is all it takes, why aren’t visitors falling over themselves to sign up for your latest offer? Because while a landing page has to give the right info, for it to really do its job, it needs to do one other thing.

An effective landing page has to stand out from the billions of other web pages and appeal to you, specifically. When you’re on it, you should feel like this page was built to help you directly. Because when we feel something is right for us, we convert.

One way to really speak to your visitor is to add video to your page. According to Forrester Research, one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words — video packs an emotional punch and helps us communicate better.

We just can’t have enough of it — we spend 2.6 times longer on pages with video than those without.

How to easily make a video landing page

You can make a great video for your landing page quickly and easily with Biteable. It’s free! Your videos will have a watermark, but you can remove that by signing up for a Premium account (it’s pretty cheap). Here are a few examples:

When someone lands on your page, they have no reason to trust you yet. Most of the time, the visitor doesn’t really know exactly who you are, what you do, and why they should care.

Let’s think about how you usually get to a landing page.

You head over to Google and type in some search words, then one of the ads or listings grabs your attention. Or you log in to Facebook and see an ad you like. Regardless, you click through and end up on a landing page. This landing page has, in theory, been optimized to appeal to you.

The ad got you there, but it’s now the page’s job to show you why you should stick around. And that needs to happen FAST.

This isn’t the early 2000s — no-one waits around anymore, so you need to make sure your page loads immediately. Test your page’s speed using a tool like the Pingdom Website Speed Test or Google’s PageSpeed Insights. If your speed is lagging, it’s time to look for some potential solutions. Speak to your hosting service provider or look into CDNs.

2.Optimize your page for all devices

Your landing page needs to look great on mobile, desktop, and tablet. Your form should be just as easy to fill out on a phone as it is on a laptop, and all the elements should be responsive.

3.Get rid of the navigation menu

A landing page is not like the other pages on your site. It has a single purpose — to inform the visitor about one specific offer and get them to sign up for it. That’s it.

It shouldn’t tell them about your business, your other projects, or direct them to your blog. You’ve got other pages for that. Your video landing page has to be a laser-focused weapon with a single purpose.

To give it its best shot, eliminate all other distractions. This means cutting the navigation menu. The menu distracts from the purpose of your page by giving the visitor too many options.

We got to the landing page in the screenshot above by clicking through on a Google PPC ad. The purpose of this landing page is to get the visitor to sign up for the free trial — at least, that’s what the ad said.

In this case, the navigation menu detracts from the page’s purpose because it introduces other options into the mix. You can now browse their pricing, look at all the different services, sign up, or log in.

In theory, this is great because it will familiarize you with the site. However, the extra options decrease the likelihood of converting because you’ve been exposed to too many calls to action. Visitors are now far too likely to start browsing, go over to check their email, and simply forget to come back.

Make things as easy on the user as possible and cut all unnecessary distractions.

4.Win us over with your content

Be clear about what you do right out of the box. We got to this landing page for Unbounce by searching for “landing page maker” and clicking through on their Google ad.

Right out of the gate, they offer social proof as a way to earn our trust — if 14,000 other companies use them, they must be good, right?

If you click “show me more” or scroll down, you’ll see more social proof and a video — both great trust builders. The short video tells us what Unbounce does and shows us how it works in just 33 seconds. This is why landing pages with video work so well — they communicate crucial info in a fraction of the time, and it’s all effortless for the viewer.

Compelling reasons to make a video landing page

According to HubSpot’s State of Video 2018 report, 69% of people have decided to buy a piece of software or an app because of a video they watched, while 81% have gone on to buy a product or a service.

But why does video work so well?

1.Video lets you share dense information, fast

Four times as many people would rather watch a video about your product or service than read about it and one in four people will actually lose interest if you don’t have a video.

Telling somebody about a product is more difficult, time-consuming, and confusing than actually showing them how the product works. With a video, you can just show them the product in action.

Instead of trying to explain what task management software Smartsheet is all about, the team uses a video to show us how the software gets used by real people to complete projects on time and make work easier.

2.Video breaks through the mental noise

Text is great, but has certain limitations. When you read something, your inner tone is linked to your current mood. So, if you’re annoyed or suspicious and start reading a great landing page, you’re far more likely to add a pessimistic slant to the offer.

Plus, most of us consume A LOT of content on a daily basis, so there’s definitely some skim-reading going on. Out of all types of content, video gets the least skim-readers — only 38% of people skim video compared to 56% who skim read emails and 75% who skim long-form content online.

3.Video helps you make a personal connection

While most of us like to think we’re ruled by facts and logic, when it comes down to it, emotion is the key driver behind purchasing decisions.

You can use video to build a personal bond with the viewer.

Gina Horkey does a great job of creating personal connection with visitors on her 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success e-course landing page.

Her video isn’t polished. It’s shot in her home office — the same place she built a six-figure business in under 2 years. Gina built her brand around authenticity and this video highlights that. It’s raw, personal, and immediately connects her to her target audience, the busy thirty-something working parent.

Gina’s video works because it speaks directly to her audience. When creating a personal connection video, you need to stay true to your brand, understand what your audience is looking for, and give it to them. The quality of your personal connection directly affects your conversion rates.

The landing page video rulebook

How do you make a landing page video that stands out? One that really helps you increase your conversion rates by enchanting visitors?

1.Plan your video landing page

Creating a video landing page isn’t just a matter of randomly adding a video to an existing page. Any video you add needs to enhance the landing page.

Decide on the purpose of your page. Get really clear about the offer — what does the user get for filling in their details? Next, build the copy around that product and your audience, and figure out what information people need to know.

Once you’ve nailed your structure, think about the best kind of video to support your message.

This background video from project management software Monday enhances the page’s message. It (not so) subtly tells us that Monday will help you effortlessly move your project from stuck to done — and that’s exactly what most of us want from a project app.

Your video needs to be clear, concise, and to support your end game. Focus on giving viewers the information they need to take action — no more, no less.

3.Location, location, location

Where’s your video going to go? Are you going to put it above the fold or further down? Is your video going to stay in the background or stand out on the page?

In our research, we saw videos in every possible placement — some took pride of place above the fold, others nestled right down at the bottom or popped up when you pressed a button. There’s no easy (or right) answer when it comes to video placement — you need to do your research and do some testing to find the best spot for your video.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can use a heat-mapping tool like CrazyEgg to study how visitors interact with your site and use the results as a starting point to test video placement.

4.Create an explosive opening

The first three seconds of your landing page video are crucial. You need to win over the viewer’s attention, stat. Sadly, there’s no one-awesome-opening-fits-all wisdom we can share.

You need to create something that works for your audience.

We watched a lot of landing page videos for this article. Some started with a 2 to 5 second shot of their logo. Some skipped a couple of beats before launching into the video.

The best way to start your video depends on your audience, so always, always, go back to your research (or do some more). If you’re not sure what your people want, run an A/B test, try two different starts, and measure the conversion rates.

5.Know your audience

Yep. We’re saying it again. While this is the most basic, bog-standard piece of marketing advice you’ll ever hear, it’s absolutely crucial.

And yet this six year old video is still one of the best product introductions out there . Why has it stood the test of time? It understands who it’s talking to and what they care about. By the end of the 1 min 30 you know exactly what Dollar Shave Club does, how the product works, what you’ll get, and most importantly, you know whether you want to do business with them or not.

So think about your audience. Who are they? What type of video will they respond to? Do the research. If you aren’t sure, create a survey and send it to your top customers and do some interviews. If you want to increase conversions on your landing page, you need to make a video your people will want to watch.

6.Pick the right type of video

The best type of video for your video landing page depends on your industry, product, service, brand, and preference.

The animated explainer video is a great way to break down a complex product. For one of their landing pages, HubSpot made a fun explainer video using motion graphics. The video heavily uses their brand colors, explains how the product works, and even shows a bit of it in action.

Smart Nora, the snoring solution your partner’s been dreaming of, focused on understanding that pain, then made a video about it.

The team use common scenarios most of us have experienced at some point and make the video feel real to the viewer. Once you’ve made that personal connection, visitors are far more likely to sign up for your list or buy from you.

8.Celebrate success

Sharing a real-world customer success story is an incredibly powerful piece of social proof. It demonstrates to potential customers that other people have already chosen to use your product and had success.

TouchBistro takes their demo booking landing page to the next level by including a customer story.

This is a bottom of the funnel landing page. At this stage of the process, the customer is informed — they know who you are and what you stand for. What they need is a little bit more persuasion to take the next step.

TouchBistro show us exactly how their software helped a real restaurant increase nightly profits by $2,000 while making life easier for staff and customers. There’s a very powerful value proposition here that’s made even more effective by using video to creatively tell that story. The video directly addresses common problems decision-makers in a restaurant would have and neatly shows how TouchBistro’s product solves them.

When crafting a video story for your own landing page, ask yourself what your customers struggle with most, then use concrete examples to show how your product works in the real world.

9.Stand out from the crowd

Using a video on your landing page can help you set yourself apart from your competition.

PageCloud uses video to differentiate themselves from all the other website building tools on the market.

The landing page is far from perfect — the video is small and doesn’t expand when you play it, and it’s positioned where most people won’t really notice it — but it’s worth a look because of the things it does really well.

It hits the problem head on — creating great web pages is hard. Next, it clearly demonstrates how current solutions aren’t working and then shows how PageCloud does it better.

Use video to clearly illustrate why your solution is superior to that of your competitors and then show it in action.

10.Optimize your video

Just because this video isn’t for your YouTube channel or Facebook feed, doesn’t mean you should ignore best SEO practices.

Craft an awesome thumbnail. Make the video look good so people will want to click on it — put together an on-brand thumbnail.

Keep it snappy. There are a lot of arguments about the ideal video length. It’s like the argument of long-form copy versus short-form copy — it depends. The key is to keep it succinct and get to the point clearly and quickly.

A video landing page for any occasion

A landing page does an incredibly important job — it helps your ad money work for you by converting visitors into leads.

Using a video landing page can help you skyrocket your conversions because video makes it easier to get your message across and really connect with your audience.

Ready to make your next landing page video? We’ve got hundreds of free video templates to help you get started. Browse our extensive collection, pick the perfect one, and make your first video today.